Perseid Meteor Shower

In August, one of the best meteor showers of the year will be visible, reports Gary Boyle, The Backyard Astronomer.  The Perseids Meteor Shower is currently underway running from July 14, to September 1. This year’s peak occurs on the nights of August 11 and 12.  Earth is now passing through the dusty debris of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, a 16-mile-wide mountain of ice, dust, and gravel that last appeared in 1992 in its 133-year orbit around the sun. It will return in the year 2125, replenishing a fresh path of comet debris ejected from the comet’s surface as it gets close to the sun. In a typical year, up to 90 meteors can be seen per hour coming from the constellation Perseus. The sky will be lit up thanks to this year’s full Sturgeon Moon on the same night of the shower’s peak. Only the brighter meteors will be seen with the bright moonlight. A few bright fireballs might be seen a few nights before the peak nights. Moonlight will interfere see the fainter meteors. But still, it is a great time to look at the cosmos while on vacation or at the cottage. Look up and enjoy the starry sky.  Known as “The Backyard Astronomer”, Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker, and monthly columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.